From the inside cover of the USA trade paperback:
Aboard a vast seafaring vessel, a band of prisoners and slaves, their bodies
remade into grotesque biological oddities, is being transported to a fledgling
colony of New Crobuzon. But the journey is not theirs alone. They
are joined by a handful of travelers, each with a reason for fleeing the city.
Among them is Bellis Coldwine, a talented linguist whose services as an
interpreter grant her passage -- and escape from horrific punishment. For
she is linked to Isaac Dan der Grimnebulin, the brilliant renegade scientist who
has unwittingly unleashed a nightmare upon New Crobuzon.
For Bellis, the plan is clear: live among the new
frontiersmen of the colony until it is safe to return home. But when the
ship is besieged by pirates on the Swollen Ocean, the senior officers are
summarily executed. The surviving passengers are brought to Armada, a city
constructed from the hulls of pirated ships, a floating, landless mass ruled by
the bizarre duality called the Lovers. On Armada, everyone is given work,
and even Remades live as equals to humans, Cactacae, and Cray. Yet no one
may ever leave.
Lonely and embittered in her captivity,
Bellis knows that to show dissent is a death sentence. Instead, she must
furtively seek information about Armada's agenda. The answer lies in the
dark, amorphous shapes that float undetected miles below the waters --
terrifying entities with a singular, chilling mission. . . .

Read for group discussion on January 12, 2005

Amy's summary China Miéville - The Scar
(Warning! Some spoilers)

The Scar is a gritty, epic fantasy. The book takes you to the complex, floating
city of Armada, which is on an imaginatively weird quest across the oceans of
Bas-Lag.

Bellis Coldwine, a linguist, left the city of New Crobuzon. She was afraid the militia
would take her and question her about the strange events in the book Perdido Street
Station, for which her former lover, Isaac der Grimnebulin, is being blamed, and about
which Bellis knows nothing.

The Crobuzoner merchant vessel Terpsichoria is sailing from Iron Bay across the Swollen
Ocean to the colony of Nova Esperium. Bellis is hired on as a translator of Salkrikator
Cray, a language spoken by sea dwelling demi-humans. Aboard ship she develops a friendship
with passenger Dr. Johannes Tearfly, a stuffy naturalist. Below decks are prisoners being
shipped to the colony as workers. Among them is Tanner Sack, a Remade man who, for
punishment, had tentacles attached to his chest. Tanner befriends Shekel, a cabin boy, by
sharing stories with him.

In Salkrikaltor City, which is situated both above and below the ocean, Bellis translates
for the Captain and his Lieutenant in a clandestine meeting. She learns that New Crobuzon
is missing a mobile marine drilling platform.

Once at sea again, The Captain informs everyone that Terpsichoria is returning to New
Crobuzon. He offers no explanation to the disgruntled passengers, but Bellis knows this is
the doing of newcomer Silas Fennec, a man who boarded in Salkrikaltor.

Pirates attack Terpsichoria in open seas. The crew is no match for the pirates. Leading
the attackers is a swordsman so dangerous it's unreal. He's named Uther Doul. Many
die. Terpsichoria surrenders and is taken to Armada, a floating city built on a conglomerate
of tied together ships of all sizes and types. New Crobuzon's stolen rig is incorporated
into Armada. The survivors, including the prisoners, are interviewed to determine their
skills and to see if they can become new citizens of the city of Armada.

Bellis is uncomfortable with the idea of spending the rest of her life on Armada. She
takes an offered job at the library. Others from Terpsichoria are adjusting better. Tanner
becomes a respected underwater engineer. Shekel has a Remade girlfriend. Johannes is
proud to be part of a confidential project of The Lovers, the eccentric rulers of Garwater,
the most powerful riding, or district, of Armada. The only person that shares Bellis'
secret hope to escape is Silas Fennec, now known as Simon Fench, who turns out to be a
Crobuzoner spy.

Bellis figures out the Garwater's secret project is to summon a humungous sea creature
called an avanc. Bellis' knowledge of the language High Kettai allows her translate a
sought after book by Krüach Aum detailing the summoning an avanc. When Armada seeks out
Aum, a mosquito man, Bellis is a member of the group that goes ashore on the deadly
anophelii island. She translates between Aum and the Armada scientists. Bellis, with
the help of Tanner, gets a secret message to the captain of the cactacae men guarding the
island. Silas convinced Bellis of the importance of getting this message back to New
Crobozon. Bellis takes the risk for her former home, more than for Silas, who has become
a seldom seen political agitator.

An avanc is called from the depths at a deadeye in the ocean and using technology and
thaumaturgy. It's captured in a huge underwater bridle attached to the city by chains. The
Lovers, rulers of Garwater, control the avanc using a rockmilk engine. Rockmilk was drilled
for using the stolen rig. The avanc pulls Armada faster than it has traveled before. But
where is it going? Three out of eight ridings of the city were initially opposed to the
scheme, and are questioning Garwater's unknown plans.

Meanwhile Uther Doul, bodyguard of The Lovers, has taken to talking to Bellis. His
attention confounds her, but apparently Doul considers her a friend. He shows her around
the Garwater flagship Grand Easterly, and tells her about himself and his lethal Possible
Sword, a sword of possible strikes.

Warships of the New Crobuzon navy locate Armada, and a sea battle ensues. Armada desperately
fights for its life against superior firepower, and sustains many casualties and many ships
are lost. How could the Crobuzoner Navy find Armada?

The avanc drags Armada through the unexplored Hidden Ocean, which ordinary vessels can't
cross because of strange currents and engines becoming untrustworthy. Eventually the Lovers
tell the citizens of Armada they are going to the Scar, to tap the power of
possibilities. Unsettling problems soon impede them. The avanc is sick. The Brucolac, the
disgruntled "vampir" ruler of the riding of Dry Water, leads a mutiny in which nasty
creatures, long searching for Armada for their own reasons, attack. But it is mysterious
occurrences involving the cactacae man Hedrigall that inspire Armadans to rethink what it
means to go to the Scar.

Our book group has also read the following books by China Miéville
--
Perdido Street Station
in May 2003
--
The City & The City
in June 2010
Bibliography:
China Miéville (1972- ) is a UK fantasy writer living in England.
He has written in the New Weird subgenre.

Awards:
2001 August Derleth Award (British Fantasy) for Perdido Street Station
2001 Arthur C. Clarke Award for Perdido Street Station
2003 August Derleth Award (British Fantasy) for The Scar
2005 Arthur C. Clarke Award for Iron Council
2010 Arthur C. Clarke Award for The City & The City